BOOKS AND MEDIA goes into great detail about society’s previous treat- ment of those with disabilities—such as the role of charity organizations and institutions in using the The Ugly Laws: Disability law to control the city space and comparing mistreat- in Public ment based on disability status to that based on racial and ethnic minority status; however, her discussion By Susan Marie Schweik, New York: New York of the law’s role in how we are to understand disabil- University Press, 2010. 448 pp. $24.00. ity today is lacking. Although this book is meant for those who study In “Where the Streets Have No Name,” one of the the history of disability, it can be very valuable for most famous songs in the past 30 years, the band U2 those attempting to understand the role of law and sings of an idealistic world devoid of socioeconomic how it can unjustly deny individuals with disabilities, and demographic divisions. The lyrics call for having not only rights, but dignity and socioeconomic mo- nameless streets, thus “tearing down walls” and bility. For example, Schweik astutely observes that having a place where boundaries are erased. In sharp tort law (and its development at the turn of the 19th contrast, there are the streets in America where, from century) led to an increase in alms-seeking by rede- the late 19th through the mid-20th century, individ- fining negligence in favor of the employer, thus pro- uals with disabilities were prohibited by law from viding workers with disabilities less legal recourse. begging or even remaining in the street. In The Ugly In turn, a desire by localities to control their devel- Laws: Disability in Public, Susan M. Schweik, Pro- oping streets permitted the use of ordinances that fessor of English and co-director of the Disability prevented the unsightly (read, disabled) beggar from Studies Program at the University of California, seeking assistance from others publicly, thus prevent- Berkeley, provides a thorough history of these ugly ing those with disabilities from improving their eco- laws and offers the context that allowed for their nomic status. creation and sustainment, including a discussion of There is a brief discussion of the courts’ handling other relevant social movements, mendicant litera- of the ugly laws. Schweik found no direct legal chal- ture, and concepts of society and class. lenges to these ordinances. As she observed, this fail- Starting in San Francisco in 1867 (and ending in ure by the legal community to challenge the laws Los Angeles in 1913), several municipalities and was probably due to the protective and benevolent states passed laws making it illegal for a person with a nature of the laws (the thought that those with dis- disability to solicit alms in public places. What was abilities should be recipients of charity from organi- determined to be a disability ranged from exhibiting zations and institutions and not in the street) and the “physical and mental deformities” (p 55) to having a assumption at the time that only able-bodied indi- body that is “deformed, mutilated, imperfect or viduals were protected by the Constitution and laws has been reduced by amputations, or [being an indi- of the United States. vidual] who is idiotic or imbecile ” (p 56). Schweik One of Schweik’s most shocking findings was an produces a convenient appendix of these laws. 1877 New York case that held that simply displaying Her broad aim in this book was to discuss the one’s disability in public (without even speaking) American concept of disability in public from the late constituted begging and a violation of the state’s law 19th to early 20th century and how disability was (p 217).1 She does not blame the legal community iconographic in controlling the poor and less fortu- for what appears to be apathy and even possible hos- nate. From a legal perspective, one of her more spe- tility toward individuals with disabilities. Yet after cific stated aims was to “illuminate the conditions reading about the legal system’s consistent lack of of disability—and municipal law’s constitution of regard for those who experience this type of invidious those conditions—in the late nineteenth century and discrimination, one comes to realize the strength of at the century’s turn, so as to better understand law, the social factors—explained by the author in such culture, and disability in the present” (p 2). She suc- great detail—that led to the enactment and enforce- ceeded in attaining the first half of her goal, but un- ment of the ugly laws. While there is not much anal- fortunately, she fell short in reaching the second. She ysis by her as to how these factors, sentiments, and

Volume 41, Number 1, 2013 143 Books and Media old laws play out today in the realm of disability law underscores the message of the first section of the and disability rights, the book provides an excellent book, that leaders of educational institutions must discussion of history to aid in understanding them in give up the idea that such acts of violence could never their own time. happen on their campuses. The necessary first task of a text on this subject is References to set the stage for administrators and clinicians to 1. Matter of Haller, 3 Abb. N. Cas. 65 (1877) accept that the risk of violence has the potential to touch every college and university community in the William J. Phelan, IV, Esq. nation. The authors discuss violence in epidemiolog- Partner ical terms, with chilling examples of fatal violence The Gowen Group Law Office, PLLC episodes from the history of higher education in Washington, DC America. They introduce a theoretical framework in Disclosures of financial or other potential conflicts of interest: None. which to understand and analyze episodes of vio- lence. They discuss situations on campuses and in college communities that contribute to the risk, in- cluding how alcohol can be a catalyst to violence. Violence Goes to College: The second section of the book focuses on preven- tion strategies, highlighting the variety of ways in An Authoritative Guide to which an institution can work to reduce and manage Prevention and Intervention the risk of violence. A chapter is dedicated to admin- istrative efforts through developing policies and pro- By John Nicoletti, Sally Spencer-Thomas, and Christopher cedures to address risk factors. Another chapter Bollinger. Second edition. Springfield, IL: Charles C Thomas, 2010. 369 pp. $94.95. details efforts to create barriers to violence through environmental protection and safety strategies, dis- This book, with the subtitle of an authoritative cussing both pros and cons to the options provided. guide, does an admirable job as just such a reference This section has a chapter dedicated to the role of law and serves as a useful guide for clinicians, law en- enforcement on campus and finishes with a chapter forcement personnel, and administrators. It is a on how to prepare for the aftermath of violence handbook written for a wide audience within the within the community that provides concrete exam- academic communities of colleges and universities, ples of how to manage the trauma that a victimized as well as those professionals connected to them. community inevitably experiences. Well sourced throughout the text, the book reviews Most of the book, 175 of the 300 pages of text, is various kinds of violence that pose a risk to those on made up of the third and final section, “Strains of campuses, describes prevention strategies, and re- Campus Violence.” The chapters include expected views methods for dealing with the aftermath of vi- topics such as sexual assault, hazing, rioting, and olence. It is comprehensive in its approach, covering avenger violence (where the perpetrator perceives the forms of violence that most people would readily violence as the only possible recourse for a perceived associate with colleges and universities, as well as less injustice, like the incident at Virginia Tech). There common forms of violence. also are discussions of suicide, hate crimes, homicide, As I wrote this review, in the summer and fall of arson, and bombing. Each chapter details the preva- 2012, bomb threats closed the campuses of the Uni- lence, demographics, risk factors, prevention strate- versity of Texas at Austin, North Dakota State Uni- gies, and appropriate responses to these forms of versity in Fargo, and Hiram College. Soon after, violence. The information is well organized and another threat was made against Louisiana State Uni- comprehensive and would be useful to any clinician versity. Hiram is an outlier on this list, a liberal arts with an interest in these areas. college set in farm country outside of Cleveland, Violence Goes to College presents a balance of Ohio, with an enrollment of just 1334 students (and theoretical discussions framing the challenges of the alma mater of this author). Yet the threat of a violence within a specific population and practical bomb in such an idyllic setting as Hiram’s campus advice on prevention, intervention, response, and

144 The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law